via Controversial tycoon sues Daily News – DailyNews Live 5 MARCH 2014
Controversial businessman, Kamal Khalfan is suing the Daily News for a whopping $10 million for stories detailing his self-confessed political clout and involvement in some shoddy business deals.
Although he does not deny the authenticity of the stinging stories, Khalfan says in his papers filed at the High Court that, the paper twisted his words.
The Daily News has filed an appearance to defend.
In his court papers, the Oman businessman who claims to be well-connected in the political and security structures of the country argues that the Daily News damaged his reputation and published a series of articles which he says did not attempt to get his side of the story.
In January after intense investigations, the Daily News carried stories of how businesspersons in the country such as Khalfan used their influence to introduce investors to President Robert Mugabe.
Some of the questionable characters that have been introduced to Mugabe include Bulgarian national and business consultant Stamen Stanchev, who was recently jailed for 11 years for money laundering in Romania.
Stanchev came to Zimbabwe on the coat tails of Khalfan.
But Khalfan says the stories “by reasonable implication, were intended” to make him appear to be corrupt.
“Despite Plaintiff (Kamal) insistence to (Daily News) that the information relied upon by Defendant to publish were stolen and interfered with and therefore should not be published the Defendants would not have none of it,” reads part of Khalfan’s court application.
“As a result of the defamation, Plaintiff has been damaged in his reputation and has suffered damages in the amount of $10 million.”
The Daily News has a trove of emails that detail Khalfan’s involvement in the scandals.
In the scam, unearthed by the Daily News, a German national, Dietrich Herzog, asks Khalfan , who claims, in the emails to be politically-connected, to assist him to clandestinely acquire diamonds from top government officials using opaque methods.
At the time, at his plush Chisipite home, Khalfan confirmed knowledge of the emails and also knowing Dietrich.
Successive emails also seen by the Daily News have also implicated the Catercraft owner in sleazy dealings, which he however denies.
According to Khalfan, the articles published by the Daily News, portray him as a fraudster “who is well-connected to top government officials and manipulates such connections to conduct illegal and corrupt deals in Zimbabwe.”
This is despite the fact that Khalfan in the same court papers admits ownership of Catercraft a company in which Zanu PF has shares and also being the patron of the Zimbabwe National Army Charity.
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